FIELD TRIP OF DREAMS

AROUND THE MAJOR
LEAGUES IN 49 DAYS

Past Ballparks of New York CityNew
York City (Manhattan, Queens & Brooklyn)
September 29, 2007

By
Ken Schlapp

Our
first stop was the Long Island Grounds in Maspeth, which was located
where Grand Avenue and 57th street intersect. This park
was originally the home of the amateur Skelly Base Ball Club, but in
1885, they played a game against the New York National League team.
In addition, the New York National League team also played a game
against the New York Metropolitans of the American Association to
display an exhibition of two major league teams. The Long Island
Base Ball Club began playing here in 1886 and for 12 games; they
were a professional team in the Eastern League, before disbanding
after 3 weeks. However, that was not the last of professional
baseball at the Long Island Grounds. The Cuban Giants of the Negro
Leagues played some of their home games here from 1887 to 1893, and
the Brooklyn Gladiators of the American Association played 2 Sunday
games here as well. The Long Island Grounds, however, fell into
disuse sometime around the turn of the century and today is the host
of warehouses and factories (including Feldman’s Lumber); with
nothing to signify Major League baseball had been played on this
site. I have driven by there a million times without ever having
known that fact.

More
amazingly, was that another park existed almost across the street on
the corner of Grand and 54th Street. Queens County
Grounds was built in 1884 to house a horse racing track with a
baseball field in the center. The Atlantic Base Ball Club of
Brooklyn (not the fames Atlantics) played here in 1884 and for 2
games were part of the professional Eastern League, but were
expelled for not paying the Richmond Club of Virginia their share of
the gate. Another Atlantic Club played there in 1886 and renamed
the field Atlantic Park. Eventually, the Feldman Family took over
the lease, added a hotel, a casino, and changed the name of the
field to Feldman’s Atlantic Park and eventually to Feldman’s Queens
County Grounds. A fire in 1902 ruined the hotel and grandstands and
eventually the ruination of the field. Today, there is a Subway
sandwich shop, a deli, and factories where Atlantic Park had
existed.

Our next stop, the Suydam Oval, was
very special to me. I grew up on Suydam Street between Cypress
Avenue and “the Car Barns”, which my street came to a dead end. It
was known as The Car Barns, because that is where the Trolley Cars
were parked when not in use during the heyday of trolleys in
Queens. When I grew up, the Car Barns was a non-maintained dirt
lot, full of broken glass and garbage, but it was also where I grew
up playing baseball, football, king of the hill and handball. What
I did not know was that the Car Barns was once called the Suydam
Oval and that the semi-pro Suydam Lorials played their home games
here in the 1920s and 1930s. The only historic note I knew about
was from reading Montgomery Ward’s (star pitcher and infielder in
the 1800s) biography that he lived approximately, what would later
become Suydam Street. After moving on to high school, I learned
that the park was actually the property of Grover Cleveland High
School, which I attended and eventually practiced for track events
on this field for 3 years. In 1999, the field was redone with
Astroturf and once again became the home of Grover Cleveland
baseball and softball teams. Since my family no longer lives in the
neighborhood, it felt good to “go home” for this part of our
journey.

Next
up, was to visit the additional sites of professional baseball in
Ridgewood. 1st up was Meyerrose Park (which was also
known as Atlantic League Park and Union League Park). This park
stood on the corner of Covert Avenue and Woodbine Street, which is
where Onderdonk Avenue would eventually be. The park opened for
baseball in 1907 for the Ridgewood semi-pro team and a Brooklyn
outlaw Atlantic League team. The Royal Giants and Philadelphia
Giants of the Negro Leagues would also play games at this park. As
David notes on his website, this park was often confused with
Grauer’s Ridgewood Park and Wallace’s Ridgewood Base Ball Grounds,
which I will discuss next. Although, there was no Major League
baseball played here, there were plenty of high-level games.
Unfortunately, the lot the field stood on was sold in 1911 and
replaced with housing. Today, it is the Onderdonk Avenue I remember
growing up around by the elevated M train and other houses, bars and
shops.

We
then headed to the corner of Myrtle and Seneca Avenues, which was
the site of Grauer’s Ridgewood Park, but today is in the middle of
Ridgewood’s main shopping and business area. Grauer’s was a picnic
grounds as well as a baseball park. Many semi-pro teams played
there in the 1880s on Sundays because Ridgewood is in Queens, but
directly across the border from Brooklyn. The big selling point for
Grauer’s is that in Queens, the blue laws were less strict than in
Brooklyn, so baseball games could be played. In fact, at the time,
most Major League teams could not play on Sundays because of blue
laws. However, the Brooklyn American Association Team (later the
Dodgers) got around this by playing their Sunday home games at
Grauer’s in 1886. However, Grauer did not find baseball profitable
enough and turned his park into picnic only and no baseball in 1887,
and eventually closed the park altogether in 1906.

Once
Grauer’s shut down for baseball in 1887, the Brooklyn club made
there Sunday home in Ridgewood’s other ballpark: Wallace’s Ridgewood
Grounds. This park was between Wyckoff and Irving Avenues and
Weirfield and Covert Streets. Like Grauer’s, Wallace’s was also a
picnic ground. They continued to play Sunday games there until
1890. The Brooklyn Gladiators of the American Association also
played there in 1890. Their game on April 18, 1890 would be the
last Major League game in Queens until the New York Mets moved to
Shea Stadium in 1964. However, Negro League games, semi-pro
baseball, football, soccer, and other high school sporting events
continued to be played on Wallace’s Ridgewood Grounds through 1959.
Like the current locations of Grauer’s, and the 2 ballparks in
Maspeth, I had walked and driven by the former site of Wallace’s
Ridgewood Park many times without having any idea that Major League
baseball had been played there. Sadly, there are no markers or
other signs that these spots are historic baseball sites.